Twice in a Lifetime

Twice in a Lifetime by Dorothy Garlock Page B

Book: Twice in a Lifetime by Dorothy Garlock Read Free Book Online
Authors: Dorothy Garlock
feet. He was sick of all the questions and complaints. His mother’s words, her accusations, stung.
    She didn’t understand. He and Naomi were in love. Whenever Tommy was around her, when he stared into her eyes, when he listened to the sound of her voice, and especially when he kissed her, he knew there was no one he’d rather be with. The more time they spent together, the more convinced he was that Naomi Marsh was the girl for him. He had even entertained the thought of proposing, of asking her to become his wife. Sure, they were young, but his own parents hadn’t been much older when they’d gotten married. It could work. Their love would overcome any obstacle.
    What about all those other men she’s been with?
    The cruelest of his mother’s charges echoed in Tommy’s head. She spoke of rumors around town that Naomi was loose. But he didn’t believe it. If Naomi was so immoral, why had she refused to sleep with him ? It was just another lie meant to keep them apart.
    Maybe Naomi was right. Maybe his mother’s increasingly desperate attempts to ruin their relationship were because she was jealous. For the first time, Tommy entertained the thought that Clara wasn’t just envious of a younger, prettier woman, but of her own son . After all, he’d found true love, something she had lost with the death of his father. Maybe it was more than she could bear.
    Tommy pulled open the door, the hinges screeching, and entered the house. He braced himself, expecting the worst, but he was surprised to find his grandmother alone, sitting at the kitchen table reading a book.
    “Hey there, partner,” she exclaimed warmly.
    “Hi, Grandma,” he mumbled as he made his way to the refrigerator, grabbed himself the fixings for a sandwich, and sat down opposite her. As he began to make his lunch, he listened closely for the sound of his mother’s footsteps coming down the hall. But by the time he took his first bite, he’d heard nothing.
    “Where’s Mom?” he asked, curious.
    “Upstairs, lying down,” Christine explained. “She was complaining about a headache and I thought that a little rest over her lunch break might make it go away.” She sighed. “I keep telling her that she’s working too hard down there at the bank, but she doesn’t listen. But I suppose that’s just the way it is between parents and their children. Everyone’s too darn stubborn.”
    Tommy paused midbite and looked at his grandmother. He wondered if what she’d said wasn’t a dig at him; he couldn’t recall the last time he’d taken his mother’s advice. But Christine had already turned her attention back to her book, a dog-eared paperback she’d been hauling around everywhere with her lately. He read the title: Strangers on a Train , by Patricia Highsmith. The cover was dark, with a strangely drawn couple.
    “Is it any good?” Tommy asked.
    “I suppose so,” Christine answered wearily, setting the book down and rubbing her eyes. “The problem is that every time I pick it up, I can’t remember what I’ve read, which means I have to go back and do it all over again. I swear, I’ve read the same twenty pages a dozen times now.”
    Tommy nodded sympathetically, but that was all he could offer. His grandmother’s health troubles bothered him. Like his mother, he had noticed their onset slowly, a misplaced item here, a forgotten name there, but now the deterioration was obvious. He wondered if the day wouldn’t come when he would walk in the door, just like this very afternoon, and she would stare blankly at him, as if a stranger had entered the house. He felt helpless, like the child he’d once been, unable to provide comfort, so instead he kept eating as the silence dragged on.
    “I suppose it can’t be too bad,” his grandmother finally said as she picked her book back up. “Why else would I keep reading it day after day?”
    Tommy laughed uneasily; he was almost thankful when he heard his mother coming down the stairs.
    When

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